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Kirkwood Mountain Resort Is Going Green in the high country

The wind that blows over the mountain will soon be powering Kirkwood Mountain Resort!

snow at the ski resortJust above the top of Amador County, Kirkwood Mountain Resort is working to be the first ski area in the area to meet the lion’s share of its electrical needs with renewable energy generated right on site.

The resort witch actually sits in Alpine County has come to an agreement to purchase 20 high tech wind turbines from Synergy Power Corp. of Reno, Nevada. These turbines will be hooked up to the resort’s present power system and should supply 6,000 kwh per day, or about 20 % of the peak winter demand, and just about all of the summer needs.

The project’s plans are still in the early days but if it passes muster the Turbines could be spinning up by 2010.

Even though a number of Tahoe and other area ski resorts have been shrinking their energy and C02 impacts by purchasing renewable energy for years, Kirkwood looks to be the first to generate on-site as opposed to buying credits or power generated remotely

Kirkwood is also installing solar arrays over parking lots and upgrading the old “dirty” diesel generation plant that they rely on now for a cleaner natural gas system.

For more information on green real estate in Amador County look here!

See what Joanne Hanson has to say about ski resorts in her area using wind power.

Posted Wednesday Jul 16
( 07/16/08 03:35PM ) — Justin & Katie Keisler

It seems that everyone is "going green" - which is excellent! Thanks for the post!



Have a successful week!

( 07/16/08 04:52PM ) — Patricia Kennedy

What a great photo!  Looks like a beautiful area - and I'm glad they're joining the green team!

( 07/16/08 05:36PM ) — Pete Jalbert R(S)

Good for Kirkwood. The resorts themselves tend to be pretty low margin. With the energy costs rising to run resorts, it makes better business sense for these companies to make the effort to go green

( 07/16/08 09:59PM ) — Teresa Harris

Everything that we can do adds up. About a year ago I started to use the energy efficient light bulbs and a few months back I started using the reuseable grocery bags. I must admit though I like the bags the best!

Hopefully this a trend that will stick beyond the scope of America's current energy crisis.

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